Shoppers who bought more than 36 million free range or organic eggs may have been conned.

They paid premium prices in supermarkets for eggs which may have come from non-organic, caged birds.

The scandal came to light in a court case in Ireland last week when British authorities applied for the extradition of egg farmer Pearse Piggot, 48, of Gort, County Galway, said to have been involved in a multi-million pound euro fraud.

He faces charges of conspiracy to defraud, false accounting and perverting the course of justice.

Keith Owen, of Heart of England Eggs based near Worcestershire, is also alleged to be involved by falsifying documents.